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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1919)
w. The Commoner ''&r&rw? The Commoner L ISSUED MONTHLY Entered nt tho PoHtofflco at Lincoln. Nebraska, a flo(jo)id-cUiHH matter. WILMAM .7. BIIYAN. t C1IAI1LBS W. BIIYAN. JQdltor and Proprietor AsMooiato I3d. and Publlfllior JSaiL Jims, and BittlnccH OfHco, Suite 207 Pruss Bldg. One Ycnr , ....JM.00 six niontiiN.' no In Clubs of Five or mora por year... .75 Three Munllis. ...... ", Kluglc Copy 10 Sample CoplOB Froo. Foreign Pot, 25c Extra. SUHSCrtlPTIONS enn bo pnt direct to The Com moner. They can iiIho bo sent through newspapers which havo advertised a clubbing rato,or through local agontfl. where such agents? havo been ap pointed. All remittance should bo sent by post olllce money order, express order, or by bank draft on Now York or Chicago. Do not sand Individual clicckH, HfampH, or currency. HLONloWAiiS Tito date on your wrapper shown tl a flino to whlcl your mtbHcriptlqn la paid. ThtiH .lanuary 10 means that payment Jias been received to and Including the Imute of January. 1010. CirANGlC OF A nniRSS Subscribers requesting. a change, of addruHU must glva old as well as new addreHH. . AIJVKiiTlSIiYO ItateB will bo furnished upon application. , Address all communications to TUB COMMOXHIt, LINCOLN, NI3II. Minneapolis' boasts that King Albert of Bel gium, now touring the country, was once an in surance salesman Iii that city. Ho knew in what school to learn tho portinacity that stood him In such good state. Under tho now German constitution no citizen may accept a title or decoration from, any foreign government. This is about the best illustration of what it means to look far into tho future that wo havo yot mot up with. It is not difficult to understand why so many' of the United States senators are so violently opposod to the clause in tho Loaguo of Nations tliut requires unanimous consent to act. They have a unanimous consent clause in their rules, and they haven't been unanimous once since then. root D'Annunzio has set tho diplomats of Europe a task in- getting him out of Flume, whither ho has carried the banner of his coifntry at tho head of a- large dotachmgnt of troops. Thus showing that while poets are supposed to possoss fine frenzies, they also know how to in duce them in other's. An estimato mado by the army department is that it will require four million dollars worth of grease to keep tho artillery owned by tho United States from rusting. Even at that, how ever, it is a lot cheaper than the method in vogue a little over a year ago to provent them from reaching that stage. Tho strength of the prohibition sentiment in this country has received new emphasis. Al though it was given out in Washington that tho Prosident would lift the War prohibition ban on tho sale of liquors just as soon as the senate ratified tho treaty, not a single defection has occurred from the ranks of the treaty's opponents. One Lincoln woman complained the other day , that for tho ilrst time in' twenty years she had been compelled, for lack of a maid, to cook the family breakfast. This fearful martyrdom will doubtless cause a vast wave of pity to surge through tho breasts of tho workers' wives who ' have been doing that for twenty years. i It we are to believe the storekeepers and tho packers and the manufacturers of shoes and clothing tho reason why prices aro high is that every consumer carries a gun and usos it to en force his demand that he be charged not less than 100 per cent more thau the articles he de sires cost tho dealer. There seems, however to ho somo flaw in this theory because every time a municipality has opened up a store for tho sale of government surplus goods crowds besiege tho place and stand in lino for hours. b President Answers Questions A San Francisco diBpatch, dated Sept. 1, says:' Replying in a statement to a list of questions put to him by a San Francisco League of Nations organization, President Wilson declared today Groat Britain could not outvote tho United States in tho loaguo; that foreign .governments could not under the covenant order American troops abroad; that the league would have a powerful influence toward restoration Of Shantung to China; that the United States would not be ob ligated by Article 10 to aid Great Britain in suppressing a 'revolt in Ireland, and that under Article 11 there would be created a now forum for questions of self-determination. His statomont containing the questions and answers follows: 1 Q. Will you state the underlying con sideration which dictated an award of six votes to the British empire in tho assembly, mid is it true that Great Britain will outvote us in the League of Nations and thereby control the leaguo's action? A. The consideration which led to assigning six votos to solf-governing portions of the British empire was that they have in effect, in all but foreign policies, become autonomous self-govern, ing slates, their policy in all but foreign affairs, being independent of the control of the British government and in many respects dissimilar from it. But it is not true that tho British em pire can outvote us in the League of Nations and thorefore control the action of the league, be cause in every matter except tho admission of new members in tho league, no action can be taken without the concurrence of a unanimous vote of .the representatives of the states which -aro -members of the council, so that in all mat tors of action the affirmative vote of the United States is necessary and equivalent to tho united vote of tho representatives of the several parts-, or tho British empire. The united votes of the soveral parts of the British empire cannot offset or ovorcome the voio of the United States. 2 Q. Is it true that under the League of Nations foreign countries can order the sending of American troops to foreign countries? i A. It is not true. The right of congress to determine such matters is in no wise impaired. 3 Q. What effect will the League of Na tions Jiave in either forwarding or hindering'the final restoration- of Shantung to China? What effect will the League of Nations havo in pro ventbigfurther spoliatiomoTVChina and the abrogation of all such, special" privileges now onjoyed in China by foreign countries? A. The League of Nations will havo- a very powerful effect in forwarding the final restora- tloirof Shantung to China and no other instru mentality or action can be substituted which could bring that result about. The authority of the League will under Article 10' be constantly directed toward safeguarding the territorial in tegrity and political independence' of China. It will, thorefore, absolutely prevent tho further spoliation of China, promote the restoration in. China of tho several privileges now long enjoyed by foreign, countries, and assure China of the completion of the process by which Shantung will presently be returned to her in full sover eignty. In the past there has been no tribunal which could be resorted to for any of these nur poses. l xr 1Q' Is tliere anything in the League of Nations covenant or the peace treaty which directly or indirectly in any manner imposes on Uie TJnited States any obligations, moral or otherwise, of the slightest character to support England in any way in case of revolt in Ireland? t7 ?iro is notThe only guarantee con tained in the covenant is against external aggres sion, and those who framed the covenant were scrupulously careful in no way to interfere with what they regarded as the sacred rights of self determination. f B Q- What effect, if any, will the Eoague of Nations covenant have in either hindering or furthering tho cause of Irish freedom? nntlTlt 7ra!not B0SsiDl for tho peace confer once to act with regard to the self-determination ?;?? tQI?t0?e.s excopt tuoso wlli had be- " edJihr dfeateS emplreo' but ln the cove- nw e Leaguo of Nations it has set up for tho first time in Article 11 a forum before which1 ; j no. io all clainis of solf-dotormination wl.ini, to disturb the peace of the wort or V Mk understandings between nations unon in .gool Peace of the world depends can io broh? lb OVER DEAD JOHN BARLKYCOItX From Worcester (Mass.) Telegram l Memorial services under thn inn Antlsaloon league of America 1 ?3plce,3 of the Mechanics hall last nlghU ffltf John Barleycorn. Hon. William tJi dy of conducted the &ultl&?rfiA?3R mourners, Thoilvor-tongued orit? , 300 Worcester to telfthe people that th ame to inebriate was dead and woul Is lay d??8 ld all possible hope of reBun-Amvl dry January 16, 1919, and goes drv fi? Xe;id Wttter h "- W Bryan came to Massachusetts to IpII wo something they didn't know about th pro ht lion movement that has swept over Araerfca For nStance,.the Nebraska orator said that dUrln his tour of the state he mado the interesting i 8 covery that Maiden had been bono rtry for a" period of 268 years and has the dry-town cham. Vlonship of the United States. Attleboro la J on the water wagon for a little matter of m yearsrwhile Cambridge has been the saloonless seat of Harvard Univorsity for fully 28 years "RhOdo Island tells us that 4 per cent beer isn't intoxicating," observed Mr. Bryan in open ing "This is a very interesting discovery, in deed," he romarked dryly; "and now they are circulating petitions inviting Massachusetts legislators to make fools of themselves by legal izing 4 per cent Jjeer. But the booze hounds will fail, because Massachusetts is a law-abiding state Her citizens will not rebel against the union and openly espouse tho cause of the boot-leggers and lawless. "I am 59 years of age," said Mr. Bryan, "and I expect to live to seo the day when the whole world is dry. Within a very few years thero will not be an open-saloon in any civilized country in the world." Profiteers whohave been brought to the rack in various investigations are a unit in declaring, that prices are high because people want tho host and won't purchase anything else. This charge th'at' the people care so little for money that they refuse to buy anything cheap for fear it isn't good is so unanimously mado that om would susppct it is the profiteers' college yell Wo are still paying liberally for pictures cf Workers who won't, ho Hnffsfiml wW.h fitiv nrliole unlesd tho price is just as high as. the profiteer , suoaseu uiey woum pay. Applo growers testifying before a Nebraska investigator said that the consumer almost in variably pays twice as much for the apples he buys as the growers were paid for them by the dealer who .bpught them of the orchardist3. In many instances theso aro first purchased by car load lot dealers, who sell to jobbers, who dis pose of them to retailers. Wo can't be very proud of our ingenuity as law-makers if we can't pro vide for a more direct relation between producer and consumer in this instance. The popularity of the idea of universal mili tary, training for the young men of America may be judged from the fact that so very few of the boards of education in tho country have met the government requirements for this work in the high schools that instead of the trained army of 1,800,000 'that was to have been the rcsuii of the legislation, by 1922, less than uOO.OOV will bejn the corps. ' 'IHE PRICE OF SILVER Detroit, Midi., t Sept. 29, 1919.- Editor The Commoner: I take the liberty of suggesting tnw you call attention to tho fact that silver u Saturday last reached in Now York 119 cen an ounce, and in London G3d or aPP8" J 12G cents. Silver at 11G is at par wtll S at 16 to 1 so that the so-called 50 cent doua Is now 110 cent dollar. Geo. W. Moore. Tho fact that the Washington crowd that c& to hoar Secretary Baker and Mr. Bryan spe the League of Nations packed a largo churcu furnished enough people for two over flow w ings would seem to indicate somo interest District of Columbia. rfj .